Transfer stuckfor.com from WordPress to Shopify theme

I wanted to set out the brief for moving **StuckFor.com** from WordPress to Shopify. This is a new Shopify framework build rather than a full migration. There are no orders or customers to bring across, and the existing product copy needs rewriting anyway. I can help with rewriting product content, product setup and collections, but I need a clean Shopify framework to work from. I currently have three related websites: * **SFXC.co.uk** — Shopify This is the authority site for our SFXC colour-changing inks, pigments, films and specialist smart-material products. * **ColourChanging.co.uk** — Shopify This is our oldest domain and currently sells a wide mix of colour-changing, thermometer and related products. It will continue to sell thermometer cards and strips, including smaller retail products and general customer purchases. * **StuckFor.com** — currently WordPress I want to move this to Shopify and make it the more focused trade site for Stuck For branded products, bulk thermometer strips, selected thermometer products, and authorised SpotSee distribution. The important point is that **StuckFor.com should not simply duplicate ColourChanging.co.uk**. ColourChanging.co.uk will continue to sell the broader range, including retail/small-pack thermometer cards and strips. StuckFor.com should be more trade-focused: bulk quantities, repeat-buying customers, B2B product presentation, and selected Stuck For branded products. There is also an Amazon reason for this. Some products currently associated with the ColourChanging name need to move towards clearer brand names, because “ColourChanging” is too generic and difficult to support as a trademark. Stuck For is the clearer brand for suitable products. This does not mean I want to remove all thermometer products from ColourChanging.co.uk; it means I need a more structured trade-facing Stuck For site as well. ### Overall aim I am looking for a practical first-stage Shopify build for StuckFor.com: * clean and professional; * B2B/trade-focused; * easy for me to continue building on; * suitable for around 50 products initially; * not over-engineered; * not a large custom project unless necessary. I have looked at the Shopify **Trade** theme because it appears B2B-oriented and Dawn-based, but reviews seem poor and some of the main B2B value appears to require Shopify Plus. My instinct is that a clean free theme such as **Dawn or Horizon**, plus a few carefully chosen apps and a small amount of custom work, may be the better route. I would welcome your view on this. ### Product range The StuckFor.com catalogue would mainly include two areas. ### 1. Transactional trade products These would be sold normally through the cart. This includes: * SpotSee products; * bulk thermometer strips; * trade pack quantities; * selected Stuck For branded products suitable for B2B buyers. Many products would use pack-size variants. For example, thermometer strips may be sold in quantities from 250 up to 10,000 units, with larger packs having lower per-unit prices. For quantities above 10,000, we would not sell directly online. Those pages just need a clear **“contact us for larger quantities”** prompt. I do **not** want StuckFor.com to become a retail site for one-off thermometer cards or small consumer card purchases. Those should remain on ColourChanging.co.uk. ### 2. Promotional thermometer card showcase We also manufacture branded promotional thermometer cards. For StuckFor.com, I would like these shown as a trade/manufacturing showcase — probably an image gallery or content section showing examples of what we make. At this stage I do not need: * an artwork upload system; * a complex quotation system; * online ordering for custom printed cards. Enquiries can come by phone or email. Selected trade-focused or standard bulk card products could possibly be sold later, but for the first stage I mainly need the site to show this capability professionally. ### Product page style For transactional products, I would like the layout to feel closer to a **CPC Farnell / RS Online style technical product page**, rather than a standard lifestyle Shopify product page. The product pages should ideally include: * a clean specification table built from Shopify metafields, not typed manually into descriptions; * fields such as Manufacturer, MPN, SKU, dimensions, G-rating, pack quantity, material, etc.; * empty metafields should hide automatically rather than showing blank rows; * clear quantity/pack-size pricing; * live stock count; * datasheet PDF download; * multiple product images with zoom; * slide-out/drawer cart; * related products carousel; * product comparison, possibly through an app. We are also trying to synchronise stock with **Despatch Cloud / Helm**, although we are currently having difficulty with this, so that may need discussing separately. ### Product list / collection pages I would like a proper **B2B product list/table view** for collections. I do not want the main buying route to be the standard Shopify image-grid collection page. Trade buyers need to scan products quickly. Ideally, collection pages would show products in rows with columns such as: * SKU; * product title; * price; * stock; * pack size; * inline add-to-cart; * filtering and search. This could be similar in spirit to the current Stuck For product list view, but cleaner and built properly within Shopify. ### VAT display VAT display is important, but the logic is different across the sites. For **StuckFor.com**, which is intended to be mainly B2B/trade-focused, my understanding is that showing prices **ex VAT by default** should be acceptable, provided the VAT position is clear and customers can also see the inc-VAT price. Ideally, StuckFor.com would show ex-VAT pricing as the default, with the inc-VAT price also available through a toggle or clear secondary display. For **SFXC.co.uk** and **ColourChanging.co.uk**, the audience is more mixed B2C and B2B, so those sites should continue to show **inc-VAT pricing by default**, with an ex-VAT toggle or secondary ex-VAT display where possible. The VAT toggle only needs to apply for UK customers. EU and worldwide customers are outside UK VAT for our purposes. Space may be limited on the homepage and collection pages, so I do not want the VAT toggle to make the layout messy. Ideally, it would be visible on product pages and product list/table pages, and included on the homepage only if it can be done cleanly. I would eventually like this VAT toggle logic added not only to StuckFor.com, but also to **SFXC.co.uk** and **ColourChanging.co.uk**, with the different default display rules described above. ### Accounting and integrations I will also need to connect **A2X for Xero**, which is one of my main reasons for wanting to leave WooCommerce. Other migration requirements: * 301 redirects from the old WordPress URLs; * broad-strokes redirects are probably acceptable, as the old site has little SEO equity; * use existing images where possible; * no customer migration; * no order migration; * no request-a-quote forms; * no artwork upload system; * no wishlist. ### Likely custom work My assumption is that only two areas may need real custom development: 1. the RS/CPC-style specification table pulled from Shopify metafields; 2. the B2B product list/table view with inline add-to-cart. I have also been pointed towards **SparkLayer**, which I understand could shortcut some B2B functionality, although it may give the site a more templated appearance. I would be interested in your view on whether SparkLayer is worthwhile for this project, or whether a lighter Shopify theme plus a few apps/custom sections would be better. I think much of the wishlist may be achievable using standard Shopify functionality or relatively low-cost apps, including: * pack-size variants and pricing; * live stock display; * datasheet downloads; * image zoom; * slide-out cart; * related products; * product comparison; * ex-VAT/inc-VAT toggle; * A2X for Xero. In summary, I am looking for a practical first-stage Shopify framework for StuckFor.com: clean, B2B-focused, technically structured, and not over-engineered. I am happy to do some of the product and content work myself, but I need the right theme setup, core product-page structure and collection/list-view structure in place. Kind regards, Jeremy